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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026

 

--SEBI ED Cheema: May issue document on securities tokenisation project soon
--CONTEXT: SEBI Executive Director Cheema's comments at Global Fintech Fest
--SEBI ED Cheema: Tokenisation being explored in the securities market
--NSDL Vagal: Tokenisation in demat 2.0 mostly extension of existing account
--CONTEXT: NSDL Chief Operating Officer Vagal at Global Fintech Fest

 

MUMBAI – Having concluded the first tokenised corporate bond pilot this week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India may issue a document similar to "frequently asked questions" soon detailing their learning and the framework of the project, Executive Director Maninder Cheema said at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 here Wednesday. The market regulator concluded one issue of its tokenisation pilot project Monday, and two Wednesday. 

 

"The pilot project which we have done has leveraged NPCI's (National Payments Corp. of India) very extensive experience, infrastructure, and capability," Cheema said, adding that the pilot project has been "very successful". Tokenisation will bring in efficiency into the system, he said. Under tokenisation, the trading element remains the same, with settlement architecture being the only part seeing a change.

 

Prashant Vagal, chief operating officer and executive vice president of National Securities Depository Ltd., called Demat 2.0 as an extension of the existing demat account system in India. It is known as Demat 2.0 but is largely an extension of the existing demat account, Vagal said, adding that India did in Demat 1.0 with segregated demat account is what the world is now doing and calling it tokenisation.

 

Unlike dematerialisation, which is converting physical shares into digital records, tokenisation is minting of tokens onto a wallet, underneath which is a smart contract. "The ownership here is in the form of a token, it is giving the same legal benefit and architecture," he said. Currently, no tokenisation projects are being conducted for the equity markets, Vagal said on the sidelines of the event. 

 

India is attempting to introduce blockchain-based tokenisation and central bank digital currency into its financial markets. The Reserve Bank of India began by piloting the wholesale e-rupee for government securities settlement and exploring its use in tokenised assets. India has also tested tokenised bonds as it tries to move towards faster and more integrated issuance and settlement of debt securities. 

 

Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Wednesday became the first private sector company in India to raise INR 5 billion through tokenised bonds under SEBI's newly introduced blockchain-based tokenisation project.  End

 

Reported by Anand JC and Rajesh Gajra

Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya

 

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